


Door Number Two

by Jedi Buttercup (jedibuttercup)



Category: Alien vs Predator (2004)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character of Color, F/M, Pre-Relationship, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22609099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedibuttercup/pseuds/Jedi%20Buttercup
Summary: The subantarctic wind felt like knives lashing through Lex's thermal shirt, and a shudder went through her as she turned toward her towering companion.
Relationships: Scar/Alexa Woods
Comments: 27
Kudos: 209
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	Door Number Two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/gifts).



> I like Scar!Lives stories, too. :) Hope you enjoy!

Lex panted harshly in the freezing air, staring down the snowy slope before her to the place where the queen serpent had broken through the pack ice cloaking the shore. Bouvetøya was a volcanic island; the water under that ice was more than two thousand meters deep, far beyond the crush depth of most modern submarines. Hopefully more than deep enough to crush one alien serpent carapace, too.

The subantarctic wind felt like knives lashing through her thermal shirt, and a shudder went through her as she turned toward her towering companion. He was panting too, fanged mandibles flaring slightly as he clasped a clawed hand to his wounded shoulder. Lex remembered Sebastian reading that his kind had once been worshiped as gods, and looking at him, startling and fascinating in equal measure, she had no trouble believing the story. Blood glimmered neon green between reptilian fingers; the skin his armor didn't cover looked thicker than a human's, pale and slightly mottled. Short, stiff quills marked the fringes of his face, and the dark, heavy dreadlocks that grew from the back of his skull were banded with rings of metal that hadn't been dug out of any mine on Earth. His people were obviously older, tougher, and more technologically advanced than hers, and so culturally different that they should have had nothing in common with each other.

And yet, there was something unexpectedly familiar about his eyes. Not just the shape of them – round pupils and greenish irises that seemed jarringly human above that fanged, tusk-flanked mouth – but the way he looked at her, too. Maybe she was imagining it, but she thought she saw pride and triumphant relief there as he returned her gaze. If the water tower they'd chained the queen serpent to had caught on the edge, like it seemed it would for a moment ... but it hadn't, and they'd both survived, the only living things left standing on the island.

A much tougher rite of passage than he'd probably been expecting, and one she hadn't been expecting at all. But they'd passed through it together. Because of each other.

Was she anthropomorphizing him too much? Or ... maybe the reverse? Her left cheek still stung where he'd marked her skin with his people's symbol – with _his_ symbol. What exactly did that mean to him? What did she want it to mean to _her_?

Lex remembered watching him mark his own face through a slot in the walls while they'd been trapped in separate rooms by the shifting pyramid. Her first glimpse of those eyes, unprotected by his helmet. She'd been about to turn away again, listening to Sebastian talk about the ancient history carved into the walls – but a flash of movement had caught at the corner of her vision, and she'd sucked in a sharp breath, just enough to catch their new friend's attention. He'd turned toward the sound just in time to slice another one of those flesh-colored, crablike things out of the air before it could attach to him. Their eyes had met briefly through the gap in the bricks – and she'd pulled away, shaken.

That had been the beginning. Despite everything, she wasn't ready for it to be the end. 

Moving slowly, Lex gestured toward the broken ice far below, then made the same gesture he had used earlier to signal her about the bomb: miming destruction. "We got her," she said fiercely; he might not speak her language, but she didn't doubt he'd get the meaning.

He threw his head back, roaring into the freezing air; then she heard her own voice repeat back to her, slightly blurred by whatever recording device he used: _We got her_. 

She nodded, smile turning slightly wry at that easy understanding. Mr. Weyland had claimed he'd hired her to guide his expedition over the ice because she was the best at what she did; his assistant, Max, had been very charming about persuading her to agree; and the rest of the team had pretended to take her seriously when she'd tried to actually do her job. But in the end, not one of them had really listened to her advice, except for Sebastian. And yet this hunter – who wasn't even of her species, didn't speak her language, and had been personally responsible for the death of at least one other human being – was managing to communicate with her just fine.

About time they had a proper introduction, then. She touched her hand to her own chest, squaring her stance as she looked up at him, and offered, "Lex."

He tilted his head, studying her, then repeated that too. "Lex."

"That's right." She nodded, then reached out, carefully setting one hand on the breastplate of his armor and copied that querying, head-tilted movement. The alien metal was surprisingly warmer than the air; she could feel it radiating through the leather of her gloves. More of his technology, probably, keeping him from freezing despite the damage it had taken. She flattened out her fingers, seeking more of that warmth. "And you?"

He glanced down, mandibles clicking again at the touch, the ridges over his eyes lifting in lieu of eyebrows. Then the muscles over his cheekbones crinkled in something that looked an awful lot like pleased amusement. "And you," his speaker repeated, as he nodded back to her. Then he added something in his own alien tongue that sounded a lot like _Yeyinde_. 

Lex tried repeating it back to him; the crinkles intensified, and she had no problem interpreting the sound he made next as his version of laughter. Part of her was pleased to hear it; it suggested another unlikely point of commonality between their species. But the part of her that had resonated in a strange kinship with him since the beginning didn't want to leave a failure on her part as a lasting impression.

He'd marked her as his equal; she didn't want to give him any excuse to think of her as _lesser_. Ridiculous as that thought might be.

"You know what?" she replied, shaking her head. "I think I'm just gonna call you Scar." She pulled her hand away from his breastplate long enough to gesture to the mark on her own cheek, then the one on his forehead, then splayed her hand out over his chest again, repeating it. "Scar."

"Scar," he agreed, then shifted his expression again as another shudder quaked through her, the chill of the wind all the more piercing for the contrasting heat of his armor.

They'd turned toward each other as they spoke; he took another half-step closer as he eyed her, then glanced aside toward the spot where the queen serpent had nearly caught her. There wasn't much left of her acid-ruined thermal jacket, but she could practically see him drawing conclusions from its absence.

Lex knew the snow groomer was still there, parked beyond what was left of the old whaling village; there was spare gear inside, a cabin heater, a way to transport herself back to the crew left behind on Weyland's icebreaker. But in that moment, it might as well have been as far away as the Lho La Icefall. Here and now, there was only Scar, an intent expression on his face as he took another cautious half-step toward her – and the catch in her breathing, like riding up through the tunnel again with the heat of the explosion behind them.

Ridiculous. But at the same time ... it felt like the most natural thing in the world to step to meet him, curling against the broad expanse of his armored chest. His shoulder had apparently stopped bleeding; he opened his arms, gauntlets pressing against her back like a barrier between her and the frigid wind. He was so _warm_ ; and the almost purring, pleased rumble under her ear nearly drowned out the thundering beat of her own heart.

Had it only been a few hours ago that she'd told Sebastian _the enemy of my enemy is my friend_? All the mountains Lex had climbed, the expeditions she'd guided – not one of them had thrilled and challenged her as much as these few brief hours at Scar's side. Probably just as well, considering that none of that experience would matter anymore, compared to the team she'd taken out and completely failed to bring back. But did she dare seize the potential alternative?

Another shiver went through her – and then, past his shoulder, the air over the island seemed to pick up the motion, tearing aside to reveal a vast, hulking shape. A _ship_ , portals open and brilliantly lit. Other warriors like him were stepping out: tall, armored, dreadlocked, carrying spears and other ceremonial-looking weapons.

Lex's mouth curved in a smile as Scar turned toward them, roaring to his people in triumph and greeting. More than one tilted their heads curiously at her – but he didn't let go.

All right. Forget going back. Wherever it took her, she was sticking with door number two.


End file.
